I would like to take trips to museums, but would have to rely on my cousin for transportation. He splits his time Cleveland area/Toledo area.
What museums in these two regions have good mineral collections?

The closest “museum” of sorts in your location is the Crystal Cave in Put-In-Bay, Ohio. Inside the cave are giant celestine crystals, which was discovered in 1897, some of the crystals are over 1 foot and a half long. It is operated by Heineman’s Winery, a family owned business.

Another option is to check out the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, which has a mineral collection and department as well. The cases though are pretty dated, but the museum has many aesthetic specimens, including a very nice gem hall. I don’t know if the gem exhibit is now open as somebody broke into the museum in December and stole part of the sapphire exhibit (the criminal has been arrested, but the sapphires were never recovered).

The museum has been doing major work construction though for the past year as they are expanding their wildlife center and building a new parking garage. I also heard rumors that the mineral exhibit will not be there much longer, as the museum is shifting their focuses from the geological sciences to the biological sciences. The museum also has quite a collection of taxidermied animals, including Balto, the famous Siberian Husky sled dog who led his team to Nome to save it from a diphtheria epidemic in 1925.

Finally, if you are interested, Cleveland does have a micromineral club that meets at the museum and hosts a Micromineral Symposium in November.

As a mineral collector though, my advice is to go to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. The museum has an outstanding worldwide collection of minerals, a few which were pictured in American Mineral Treasures. My favorite exhibits, besides the fluorites, where the Romanian and Bulgarian specimens. It really is world class…

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